January 5, 2007

Behind Every Silver Lining

One of the best things about the very disappointing 2006 elections was that NY AG Elliot Spitzer was elected to Governor of the State of New York. The man terrifies me, but I thought that he could do less damage to me personally as Governor, than as the man who was willing to kill New York's financial industry to become Governor. (Samizdata suggests statues of Senator Sarbanes, Rep. Oxley, and Spitzer to celebrate their part in bringing IPOs to London).

John Fund, in Opinion Journal Political Diary suggests that I might end up missing the security of the frying pan:

Andrew Cuomo, the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and the state's new attorney general, certainly has a different conception of his office from the traditional one. Following on the activist heels of his predecessor Eliot Spitzer -- now the state's governor -- Mr. Cuomo has announced he is naming top deputies to be in charge of "social justice" and "economic justice." Never before have such offices been created in any state attorney general's office.

Mr. Cuomo's move is a clear sign he plans to align himself with a wing of the Democratic Party that has adopted such loaded terms as a cover for a philosophy of redistribution and class warfare. As the late Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek noted, social justice is in the eye of the beholder. When that beholder is the top prosecutor for the state, with the power of prosecutorial discretion at his disposal, citizens should grab their wallets and their liberties, because both may be in jeopardy.

Make room for four statues, Perry!Posted by John Kranz at January 5, 2007 1:48 PM